President George W. Bush continued his assault on progress last night in a strong and forceful tone as he delivered his fifth State of the Union address. The speech made it seem as if he were still spending the “political capital” he has been claiming since his disputed 2000 election, and even now that his “mandate” has fallen to a mere 39 percent, he continues to repeat essentially the same message of his previous addresses.
An unfortunate incident preceded the address, when noted anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, the guest of Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Ca.), was arrested and taken away in handcuffs minutes before Bush was to give the speech. Sheehan was arrested for wearing a shirt with an anti-war message and refusing to cover it up when asked to do so. Sheehan’s arrest is a violation of the same liberty that Bush said it is essential to spread around the world.
We learned last night that Bush has not moved on his foreign policy, as he told America that we must stay the course in Iraq, because “second-guessing is not a strategy.” This disregard for “second-guessing,” also known as rational criticism, could be seen throughout the President’s speech. He continued to urge Congress to act upon his failed initiatives, as if this year they would work differently than they have in the previous five years of his administration.
The president failed to acknowledge the numerous controversies that have surrounded him the last few months. He only mentioned Hurricane Katrina and lobbyist reform in passing, and governmental ethics were entirely ignored in the 51-minute speech. While trying to defend his more controversial policies, such as the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency’s unwarranted wiretapping, Bush tied his defense to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The implication was that Americans’ civil liberties should be infringed upon because, had they been infringed before the 9/11, the attacks would have been prevented. Apparently, documents titled (in Condoleezza Rice’s words) “something like ‘Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States’” were not enough. The message here was that privacy infringements alone, and nothing else, will keep our country safe in the future.
In the midst of the president’s attempt to push his old laundry list of failed policies, he made the mistake of mentioning his failed plan to “save” Social Security. Upon hearing this, the Democrats in the hall stood up and began to mockingly applaud the president. In 2004, the Democrats successfully defeated the President’s attempt to privatize Social Security. It is that kind of action and strength from the opposition party that America needs in 2006. Hopefully this year the Democrats will again rally together to shut down more of the President’s ill-planned initiatives.
